Philly courts warn of PA Turnpike unpaid toll text-message scam
The Philadelphia Courts would never send a text message demanding payment, a Saturday fraud alert issued by the courts said.
Bogus text messages inviting people to a court hearing over a Pennsylvania Turnpike toll violation are part of a scam, Philadelphia courts warned this weekend.
The fraudulent messages falsely instruct the recipient to “appear for a hearing” in the Traffic Division of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, or use a QR code to pay a fine.
Philadelphia courts advised anyone who received the message to ignore these texts as the city’s judiciary would never send a text message demanding payment of any kind, according to the fraud alert.
“The public is cautioned to NEVER provide personal, banking or credit card information via a link sent through an unknown text or phone call,“ the alert said. ”The Courts NEVER request Social Security numbers or credit card information over the phone or via text."
Anyone who received the message is instructed to call the police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection at 800-441-2555, or to contact the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov.
This type of text message scam is known as smishing, the phishing equivalent for SMS texts. And while they’re mostly annoying for those who identify the fraud quickly, they can also lead to financial losses. American consumers reported losing $470 million in text-message scams in 2024, according to FTC data.
Supposedly unpaid Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls have been the subject of scammers’ attempts to steal personal financial information in the past. Just within the last couple of years, Philadelphia-region residents also received scam texts claiming to be from the Philadelphia police, the New Jersey Turnpike, local election offices, and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
Experts recommend never clicking on links or replying to unexpected text messages. Those who aren’t sure if the message is legitimate should search online for the agency or company that is contacting them, find its official phone number, and call it directly to ask whether it texted them.